Would it be possible for Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to order Sifo-Dyas to make the arrangements with the clones, without the Jedi Council knowing? If so, it would be easy to have him killed afterwards, by himself or Count Dooku. This supposedly shifty look on Yoda and Mace Windu's faces could simply be a "hm, something fishy going on here" look.
Another possibility is of course that Sifo-Dyas fell to the dark side of the force, thus "dying" in the eyes of the Jedi. This is after all the same thing Obi-Wan told Luke Skywalker about Anakin. This would also explain the look on the masters' faces.
I find it very unlikely that Mr Mysterious is actually any of the other characters we have seen so far. If he is still alive, I suspect he will appear as a new Sith apprentice in the next movie.
Are we basing this rule solely on Yoda saying there are only two siths, no more, no less.
This suggests that there has only ever been two siths at any one time in the history of the galaxy. This can't make sense.
Mace Windu says in TPM that he believed all the siths were eliminated and this suggests a large number once were around.
Therefore, it is entirely possible for there to be more than two siths and THEREFORE Syfo Dias could now be a sith lord along with Sidious and Tyrannus. (providing we are only basing the rule on yoda's speech!)
My whole point is that I believe that Maul was once a Jedi. It sticks to Sidious's use of former Jedi for Apprentices. Rick McCallum had mentioned before that Maul's tattoo's were important and that he couldn't discuss their meaning. Maybe that is why Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan don't recognize him. They also may have never met him. Yoda and Mace never saw Maul, so they wouldn't have known it was him. This is why I believe they left out the "Lost 20" idea. There is never any hint in AOTC that only a few Jedi have ever left the Order. I mean, hell, Obi-Wan never even met Qui-Gon's master.
It's an interesting twist.
I agree helmet, this is a possibility.
Maul could have ordered the clones at the bequest of sidious whilst in his syfo dias role and was to be sidious's main helper in setting up the clone wars. But, he was killed by obiwan and therefore sidious had to turn dooku to the dark side to do the work darth maul was to and thats why it was dooku who hired jango fett and not syfo dias.
A few problems though...
1. Dooku is much more powerful than maul so sidious would have preferred him to maul as his right hand man.
2. In TPM, Maul says that they can finally reveal themselves to the jedi and this suggests they have been in hiding for some time and for the above thery to work syfo dias would have been a jedi up until ten years ago.
First of all, Budgie, GL has made it cleat that the 'only two' rule stands. It wasn't ALWAYS that way, but when there were more than two they always fought each other too much. So there will ONLY be two.
Secondly, I do not find it in the slightest bit credible that Maul could have been Sifo-Dyas, but that no-one has made the connection.
And I still firmly believe the 'almost ten years' ago timescale of everything places it firmly AFTER TPM.
I agree, it's pretty clear that the clones were ordered after Maul was dead. No, I'm quite sure Sifo-Dyas was just some other Jedi Knight(?) in the council, who was either turned to the dark side and ordered to Kamino by Sidious, or not, and ordered there unsuspectingly by Chancellor Palpatine. And wether he's truly dead is also an open question to me. Time will show.
I think the solution is very simple. It's just a small diversion on Palpy's plot. I don't think we should try to seek too much behind it. All Palpy does is deception. Even the separatists movement isn't there to overthrow the Republic, it's there to destroy all major power structures in the Universe, and to instate emergence powers to Palpy AND to legally own an army he as a Sith can control. This is why the clones replace the droids.